Magnetic door stop



May 26, 1959 H. o. SCOTT ET AL 2,888,289

MAGNETIC DOOR STOP Filed 'May 24, 1956 A rra/Mfrs United States Patent O MAGNETIC DOOR STOP Hayes 0. Scott and Raymond L. Pietsch, Flint, Mich., assignors to The Engineered Products Company, Flint, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application May 24, 1956, Serial No. 587,026

13 Claims. (Cl. 292-201) This invention relates to a door stop and more particularly to a door stop of the magnetic type.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a door stop which is designed to positively prevent movement of the door in one direction when engaged by the stop.

A further object of the invention is to provide a magnetic door stop which is arranged to positively prevent movement of the door in one direction when engaged with the stop and to permit ready disengagement of the magnetic stop with the door when the door is moved slightly in the opposite direction.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a magnetic door stop which is designed to be mounted on a oor and nevertheless avoid an unsightly appearance or a serious obstruction on the surface of the floor.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a door provided with the door stop of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 viewing the arrangement from the free edge of the door.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and showing the door being shifted toward a position where it is positively engaged by the door stop, the door in the engaged position being shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and showing the door being moved to a position releasing the door stop.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken generally along the lines S-S in Fig. 1 with the door and stop shown in the position illustrated in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along the lines 6 6 in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a view of the strike plate forming part of the door stop of this invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated in Fig. 1 a door 10 which, in the arrangement shown, is hinged along one edge thereof, not shown, and has a free vertical edge at 12. The lower edge of the door is designated 14. In the arrangement shown, the lower outer corner of the door has a rectangular recess 16 formed therein; and directly above this recess 16, a magnet assembly 18 is mounted. As is seen best in Figs. l and 5, magnet assembly 18 includes a magnet member 20, preferably a ceramic magnet, provided with steel pole pieces 22 at the opposite faces thereof. Preferably, magnet 20 is fashioned with a central aperture 24 and pole pieces 22 are formed with dimples 26 which engage in aperture 24 to retain the pole pieces 22 in position at each side of magnet 20. These members are encased within a housing 28 having dimples 30 thereon engaging the dimples 26 in the pole pieces 22 to hold the magnet and pole pieces in position within housing 28. Housing 28 is fashioned with a pair of base anges 32 for mounting the magnet assembly on the door. The flanges 32 are provided with elongated openings 34 through which mounting screws 36 may b'e driven to mount the magnet assembly on the door in a vertically adjustable position.

It will be noted that the pole pieces 22 project below 2,888,289 Patented May 26, 1959 the upper edge of recess 16 a slight distance and that the outer face 38 of housing 28 projects downwardly below the lower ends of pole pieces 22. In a typical arrangement, the distance between the edge 40 of recess 16 and the lower edges of pole pieces 22 might be on the order of 1/16" and the distance between the lower edges of pole pieces 22 and the lower edge of face 38 of housing 28 might be on the order of Ms.

The other component of the door stop of this invention comprises a strike plate 42. Strike plate 42 comprises two plate members 44 and 46 hinged together as at 48. The hinge plate 46 comprises a rectangular plate formed with openings 50 through which screws 52 may be driven to secure the strike plate 42 to the floor. Strike plate 42 is mounted on the floor in the path of movement of magnet assembly 18 preferably adjacent one of the limiting positions of the door; for example, adjacent the fully opened position of the door. Strike plate 42 is mounted on the oor so that the hinge axis 48 is disposed generally perpendicular to the path of movement of magnet assembly 18 and facing in a direction opposite the direction in which the door is moved to bring it into engagement with the door stop. For example, if the strike plate 42 is mounted so as to hold the door in opened position, it would be arranged on the iloor so that the hinge pin 48 faces the direction in which the door is moved to the closed position.

Hinge plate 44 is generally U-shaped in cross section (see Fig. 6) and is fashioned with a top wall 54 and arcuate side walls 56. To wall 54 has a portion 58 thereof adjacent hinge pin 48 generally parallel with the oor surface indicated generally at 60. Top wall 54 has a second portion 62 which slopes downwardly from portion 58 in the direction of the free end of hinge plate 44. By way of example, the portions 62 and 5-8 of top wall 54 may be inclined at an angle of about 10 relative to one another. Side walls 56, as mentioned previously, are of arcuate configuration and also taper downwardly toward the free end of plate 44. (see Fig. 7). Thus, the hinge plate 44 in its normal position shown in Fig. 4 does not provide any substantial obstruction on the floor. This is especially true where the strike plate 42 is mounted on the floor so as to hold the door in the open position, in which case the strike plate would be mounted near the wall on which the door is hinged. This wall is generally designated 64 in Fig. 4. It will be observed that in the normal position, hinge plate 44 overlies and conceals hinge plate 46.

To illustrate the operation of the magnetic` door stop of this invention, refer first to Fig. 3 wherein the door 10 is shown as being swung towards the open position. As

soon as the pole pieces 22 reach a position overlying the ilat surface portion 58 of the top wall 54 of strike plate 44, the magnetic attraction between hinge plate 24 and pole pieces 22 is sucient to cause hinge plate 44 to swing upwardly into engagement with the abutment 66 provided by the lower edge portion of the face 38 of housing 28. As the door continues to move further in the opening direction, abutment 66 remains engaged with the top face 54 and hinge plate 44 pivots upwardly still further as the abutment 66 rides over the inclined portion 62 of top face 54.

As soon as the abutment 66 rides past the free end of hinge plate 44, the hinge plate snaps upwardly into coplanar engagement with the lower edge of the pole pieces 22 and behind the abutment 66 (Fig. 2). The magnetic attraction between pole pieces 22 produces a'braking effect on the swinging movement of the door and the door is thus held in the open position. In this position, engagement of abutment 66 with strike 42 positively prevents the door from being swung towards closed position. When it is desired to release the door from the strike, it is swung still further in the opening direction from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 4. As the pole pieces 22 ride past the end of the inclined portion 62 of the top wall 54 of hinge plate 44, hinge plate 44 drops downwardly because of gravity toa position engaging the iloor 60. j Thereafter, the doo'i can be swung to the closed position. s

In swinging to the closed position, when the lower edges of pole pieces22 pass'over the inclined portion 62 of top wall54, these surfaces are spaced apart such that the magnetic attraction between these members is insuiiicient to swing plate 44 upwardly. Thus, abutment 66 swings past the free edge of hinge plate 44; and the hinge plate 44 is not pivoted upwardly by magnetic attraction until the pole pieces are substantially directly above the portion 58of top wall 54.

v Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a magnetic door stop which is designed to positively prevent the door from being moved from one of its limiting positions when engaged by the door stop towards its other limiting position. At the same time, the magnetic door stop of this invention is fashioned such that the door may be released therefrom by simply moving it slightly in the opposite direction. It will be appreciated, of course, that the forming of the recess 16 at the lower outer corner of the door is not absolutely necessary. The door may be dimensioned in height so that there is sui'icient clearance between its lower edge and the ioor surface to accommodate the strike plate 4Z as described.

We claim:

l. In combination, a door movable between open and closed positions, said door having a magnet assembly mounted thereon adjacent the lower edge thereof, said magnetic assembly having a downwardlyv facing magnetic face disposed at a level adjacent the adjacent lower edge portion of the door and having an abutment thereon projecting downwardly below said magnetic face, a strike plate mounted on the oor surface in the path of movement of said magnet assembly on the door, said strike plate being mounted adjacent one end of said path, said strike plate comprising first and second members hinged together, said first member being secured to the oor surface with the axis. ofthe hinge disposed generally'perpendicnlar to the path of movement ofthe magnet assembly whereby the .second hinge member is free to swing vfrom a position adjacent the floor upwardly to a position engaged by the magnet assembly when the magnet assembly swings to a position over said second hinge member, said second hinge member having a top face portion normally spaced below the path of travel of the magnet assembly a distance such that when the magnet assembly passes thereover, the second hinge member pivots upwardly towards said magnetic face in response to the magnetic attraction and having a second portion adjacent the first portion and disposed more remote from the axis of said hinge, said second portion being normally spaced below the path of movement of the magnet assembly a distance such that the magnetic attraction between the magnet assembly and the second hinge member is insufficient to pivot the second hinge member from said normal position upwardly into engagement with the magnet assembly lwhen the magnet assembly is disposed directly above said second portion of said top face, said second vportion of said second hinge memberhaving an edge portion 'providing a shoulder movable upwardly into interengagement with said abutment in response to magnetic attraction between the second hinge member and the magnet assembly to prevent return movement of the door from said one lerid of saidpath.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein said 3. The lcorribination Icalled for in claim 1 wherein said magnet assembly includes a magnet and a housing enclosl ing said magnet, said abutment being fashioned as a lower edge portion of said housing and the lower end face of said magnet comprising said magnetic face.

4. The combination called for in claim 2. wherein the inclination of said second portion of said top face of the second hinge member is such that the second hinge member is adapted to swing upwardly under the inuence of said magnet to a position wherein said second portion of said top surface is in substantially coplanar engagement with the lower end face of said magnet assembly.

5. The combination called for in claim 4 wherein said second hinge member overlies said first hinge member.

6. In combination, a door movable between open and closed positions, said door having a magnet assembly mounted thereon adjacent the lower edge thereof, said magnet assembly having a downwardly facing magnetic face disposed at a level adjacent the adjacent lower edge portion of the door and having an abutment thereon extending downwardly below said magnetic face, said abutment being disposed at the leading edge of said magnetic assembly in relation to the swinging movement of the door `towards the open position, a strike plate mounted on the floor surface so as to be disposed directly below the magnet assembly when the door approaches said open position, said strike plate comprising a pair of members hinged together, one of said members being secured to the oor and the other being adapted to swing upwardly under the magnetic attraction of said magnet assembly, said other hinge member having a top face portion normally disposed below the path of said magnet assembly a distance such that when the magnet assembly passes thereover, the magnetic attraction is suiiicient to pivot said other hinge member upwardly towards said magnetic face, said other hinge member also having a second top face portion contiguous to said iii-st mentioned top face portion and extending therefrom in the direction of the opening movement of the door, said secondv top face portion extending to the free end of said other hinge member and being normally disposed below the path of travel of the magnet assembly a distance such that when the door is swung from open towards closed position, the magnetic attraction between said magnet assembly and said other hinge member is insuicient to pivot said other hinge member upwardly until said abutment travels past the free end of said other hinge member, said other hinge member being formed of magnetic material such that it remains in its upwardly pivoted position as the magnet assembly passes from over said first mentioned top face portion to the second mentioned top face portion whereby the door may be swung to a position wherein the free end of said other hinge memberengages behind said abutment to prevent closing movement of the door.

7. The combination called for in claim 6 wherein said two top face portions of said other hinge member are oontiguous and inclined relative to one another.-

8. The combination called for in claim 6 wherein said strike plate is mounted on the oor with the axis of the hinge disposed generally perpendicular to the path of movement of the magnet assembly.

9. The combination called for in claim 6 wherein said magnet assembly includes a magnet and a housing surrounding said magnet, said housing having means thereon for adjusting the housing vertically on the door.\

l0. The combination called for in claim 7 wherein said magnet is provided with a pair of pole pieces having generally horizontally disposed lower faces forming saidmagnetic face, the inclination of said second mentioned top face portion of said other hinge member being such that when said other hinge member engages said magnet behind said abutment, said second mentioned top face portion is substantially in coplanar engagement with the lower end faces of said pole pieces.

1l. The combination called lfor in claim 1 0 wherein said abutment comprises a downward extension of one face and said side wall portions providing rounded surface of said housing. faces extending from the oor surface to said top face 12. The combination called for in claim 11 wherein portions of said other hinge member. said other hinge member comprises a top wall fashioned with said iirst and second mentioned top face portions and 5 References Cm3 1H The me 0f thlS Patent side wall portions. t v s a 2 13. The combination called for in claim 12 wherein UNTED STAFI LS PATENTS said side wall portions are of arcuate cross section, the 2,519,435 Byrd Aug- 22, 1950 lower edges of said side wall portions in the normal posi- 2,673,755 ASP M31'. 30, 1954 tion of said other hinge member engaging the oor sur- 10 

